Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Wildflower Wednesday

Following a winter break, April is a good time to re-join Wildflower Wednesday, Gail's monthly celebration of (mostly native) wildflowers. It's such a joy having wildflowers blooming again here in the Chicago southland.

The foliage is just as pretty as the flowers on celandine poppies (Stylophorum diphyllum, above,) also commonly known as wood poppies. While I've read they need consistently moist soil, they thrive here in our dry shade woodland garden. Celandine poppies self-seed readily, so I generally try to stay on top of deadheading them. Keeping them deadheaded also helps keep them blooming here spring through fall.

I'm not sure if this a red or white trillium. We had both, though two of them haven't reappeared this spring. The reds were planted five years ago, and the white one two years ago. This will be the first one to ever bloom. Trilliums, also known as wake robin, can take years to become established and bloom. They are becoming more and more rare in their native habitats. Prized by many gardeners, care should be taken that they are purchased from reputable growers. Mom is very lucky to have a nice stand of them in her woods, but this is one of the plants I wouldn't disturb to bring home for our garden.

It's the first year our Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica,) are blooming! Planted three years ago, some came from Possibility Place, our local native plants nursery. A few also came from K's (my firstborn's) garden last spring. They sulked after transplanting them here, wilting and dying back within a couple of weeks. I was so happy to see them come back this spring!

Virginia bluebells, like trilliums, are spring ephemerals. Ephemerals are woodland plants with a short growing season during which they leaf out, bloom, set seed, and then the above-ground part of the plant dies back. Bluebells can be prolific self-seeders, forming large colonies in a few years. Now that our long-awaited blooms are here, some will be allowed to set seed, but most will be deadheaded to prevent them from taking over the garden. Extra seedlings can also easily be weeded from the garden or shared with fellow native-plant lovers.

Last but certainly not least are these mystery Spring beauties (Claytonia virginica,) another ephemeral. I'm not sure how these tiny plants got here, but am happy they came! Most likely their seeds arrived with the other woodland natives transplanted from Mom's woods or K's gardens last spring, or maybe they were planted by squirrels or birds. Spring beauties are also known as fairy spuds, as the tubers (which are edible and said to taste like chestnuts,) look like tiny potatoes.

Wildflower Wednesday is hosted on the fourth Wednesday each month by my friend Gail who blogs from Tennessee at Clay and Limestone. In honor of spring, this time she's celebrating wildflowers with a week-long extravaganza. Native plant lovers will revel in the plethora of inspiring posts by Gail and other participating bloggers.

Excellent choices for WW, Linda! I really like the Claytonia; how nice that you got this bonus plant along the way somewhere. I really don't have any spring ephemerals in my garden; I would love to establish a bluebell colony, though.

They maybe tiny but are definitely photogenic! Love those two Spring beauties in the last photo. You made me think of lantana. It's a weed that has became popular. Probably these pretty wildflowers can eventually make gardens beautiful also ;-)

Sissy, seems no matter how much we've learned, there's always something new to discover!

I love blue in the garden too Avis! I've loved bluebells since the first time I saw them - so glad to finally have some here!

It's really fun when something new and unexpected shows up Eileen. It's happened here a few times.

EE, they are very welcome here!

Thank you Rose! If I can save some bluebell seeds I'll let you know in case you'd like some. They would probably start pretty easily if you just scattered some seed where you want them.

Sure is Rose - it's a whole different experience than the same-season bloom of most newly-planted nursery stock perennials.

Thanks Darla!

Chandan, it's so nice to see color again after a long, cold, snowy winter.

Me too Gail - so fresh, so new, so full of promise. I love the light, love the feeling of renewal, love the green shoots pushing up out the soil, love the scent of spring. Can't think of anything about it I don't love other than some of the crazy, downright dangerous weather it can bring.

Hope those celandine poppies work for you this time!

It's fun to photograph them Stephanie - I love how the detail of the stripes and their pretty pink anthers can be seen so clearly in closeups.

MBT, I don't think they're in danger of extinction, it's just that their natural habitats have so often been disturbed they're more rare in the wild now. They're still readily available, and I think will be, from native plants nurseries, and sometimes I've even seen them at a big box store.

I just wouldn't want to support a grower who's digging trilliums from the wild, and as tempted as I might be to bring some home from my mom's, I feel pretty strongly that they should be left alone where they still exist in native habitats.

I love the trilliums too. My grandma's house had lots of them growing like wildfire in her woods. I was so mad at my neighbor last year, he mowed down my wildflower field as well as a few of my blackberry bushes. He was trying to be helpful, so I didn't say anything, but another neighbor reamed him out about it.

So lovely, Linda. We are both blessed with these beauties. I have huge colonies of trillium both in home garden and at the lake. Celandine poppies prolific! I so love spring. Thankfully the weather is now kind. Let's enjoy!

Garlic mustard has taken out a lot of trillium in our natural areas here, but I kow of one location with major gm pulls where the trillium population is reestablishing itself. I had a few in my shady bed. This also reminds me I went on a wildflower walks weeks and weeks ago and never did a blog post...

Garlic mustard - oy Monica! We never had problems with it in our yard until recently. Our neighbor behind us with the badly neglected yard has garlic mustard, among other nasties that are making their way over here. I've been attacking it over there to try to keep it from getting too bad over here.

I think garlic mustard is also one of the reasons trilliums are disappearing from wooded areas around here.